Member of the Order of Ikhamanga (Silver). Born in February 1927 in Natal Theo Mthembu’ s boxing career started when he was sixteen. In 1948 he became a professional boxer in Johannesburg at the Bantu Men’s Social Centre, but was wounded in cross-fire in a gunfight, thus ending his career. He turned to training, setting up a boxing academy in Dube and helped found the first non-racial sports movement. Achieving many awards he was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame and honoured with the Order of Ikhamanga (Silver) in 2004. A promoter, sports writer and critic, Mthembu trained several champions including Baby Jake Matlala. Theo died a few days short of his 80th birthday in 2007.